I just love our Christmas home. Here is a peek at our living room, illuminated warmly by the soft glow of Christmas lights. A crackling fire in the fireplace would complete the picture nicely, as would children playing sweetly on the floor in front of it, but the perfectionist in me snapped this photo just after tidying up one recent afternoon. :)

Our Advent bookshelf was a new concept this year, inspired by posts I had seen last year with lovely wooden letters spelling out the word "PREPARE". Being the last-minute-planner I am, however, and an impatient one at that, we improvised with ours and used what we had on hand...card stock. That stuff never lets me down! It's worked in a pinch many, many times. :) We have on display here our Little People Nativity set, to be played with by small hands, as well as our collection of Christmas videos, DVDs, and picture books. I love this shelf so much. And thanks to a generous gift from Darren's father, we added a number of beautiful new books to our personal library this year.

The top of our entertainment center is home to the beautiful wooden train set we received a few years ago as a gift from my Mom. Also, a reminder that "Santa Claus is coming to town". My very favorite feature of the entertainment center display this year, though, is the "town square" of our Christmas village, decorated by Dylan with a crafty aluminum Christmas tree he made entirely on his own one night after watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas". :)

Our handcrafted nativity set was embellished this year with added greenery and a golden star. I think it's just lovely. (The infant Jesus was added on Christmas morning, but this photo was taken during Advent.)

And finally, here are our "stockings hung by the chimney with care" on Christmas Eve. We were so happy to actually find a stocking for Kristen to match those of her sisters and brother!

Thank you so much for stopping by for this virtual tour of my Christmas Home. And please, I hope you will forgive my excessive use of sideways-smileys. They do so little, really, to convey the true joy I feel at this time of year. But, in this cyber world, they'll just have to do. :)